Arvind Kejriwal, ministers stage sit-in at LG office

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues stayed put at the Lt Governor's office till midnight over their three demands, including a direction to IAS officers to end their "strike" and action against officers who have struck work for "four months".

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues stayed put at the Lt Governor’s office till midnight over their three demands, including a direction to IAS officers to end their “strike” and action against officers who have struck work for “four months”. Kejriwal along with his deputy Manish Sisodia and two other ministers met Lt Governor (LG) Anil Baijal this evening. They are likely to remain at the LG office till morning. Sources said the chief minister, who is a diabetic, had to take insulin during the sit-in and got specific food from his home.

A number of AAP MLAs and leaders also camped outside the LG office, and the police have barricaded the area. Kejriwal tweeted at 6 pm from the waiting room of the LG office that a letter was handed over to Baijal but he refused to take action. “Handed him this letter. LG refuses to take action. LG is under constitutional duty to act. Left wid no option, we have politely told LG that we will not leave till he acts on all points. We hv come out of his chamber n sitting in his waiting room (sic),” he tweeted.

Kejriwal along with Sisodia and other cabinet colleagues Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai met Baijal and demanded that he direct the IAS officers to call off their “strike” and punish those who struck work “for four months”. He also asked the L-G to approve his government’s proposal on doorstep delivery of rations scheme. “In the history of independent India, this is the first time that IAS officers on strike for four months. Why?” he questioned. He also asserted that the scheme on doorstep deliver of rations should be implemented as it will help people and remove corruption. “We have been urging Hon’ble L-G for last many months but LG refused,” he said.

The AAP dispensation claimed that several efforts were made to end the “strike” by IAS officers due to which government work has been suffering in past four months. Sisodia said that he met and wrote to the L-G five times about the strike but he did “nothing” to end it “How can elected govt work, if Hon LG supports IAS officers strike like this,” he tweeted from Raj Niwas. The AAP government and the bureaucracy have been at loggerheads since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs at Kejriwal’s residence on the intervening night of February 19-20.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal accused the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Centre of “unleashing” the Lieutenant Governor, IAS officials and agencies such as the CBI, ED, I-T Department and the Delhi Police on the AAP government to stall its functioning. He alleged that Delhi government officials, who have been boycotting meetings with AAP ministers for four months after the alleged assault on Prakash, are being “threatened” into continuing their strike. “The strike is being orchestrated by the PMO and coordinated by the L-G (Anil Baijal),” Kejriwal told reporters.